An Ultra-compact 14.

9-W X-Band GaN MMIC

Power Amplifier
Li-Hsien Huang Hwann-Kaeo Chiou
Department of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering,
National Central University National Central University
No.300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli Distr., No.300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli Distr.,
2020 IEEE Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC 2020) | 978-1-7281-6962-0/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/APMC47863.2020.9331325

Taoyuan, Taiwan Taoyuan Taiwan

lordlisei@gmail.com hkchiou@ee.ncu.edu.tw

Abstract—This paper presents an ultra-compact 14.9 W VGS = -2.3 V, respectively. Fig. 1 shows the schematic
X-band GaN power amplier (PA) which is designed by using diagram of the proposed two-stage X-band PA. According to
WINTM 0.25-m GaN-on-SiC HEMT technology. To design the the process design kit (PDK) provided by the foundry, the
compact PA, a simple four-way power combining structure is best bias conditions are set to a drain voltage of 28 V with a
used to obtain high output power per area ratio. The pulsed current density of 0.1 mA/m. Since the power density is 5
mode measurements demonstrate a saturated output power of W/mm at 10 GHz, the required total gate width is estimated
14.9 W and maximal power added efficiency (PAE) of 37% in a to be 2.8 mm for achieving the output power of 14 W.
chip area of 2.1×1.65 mm2. The proposed PA achieves a power
VDD2
per area ratio of 4.3 W/mm2 which is the best figure of merit VG2
Rout Cbypass_out
VDD1
(FoM) among recently designed X-band GaN PA monolithic VG1
Cbypass
Cg2/2
Cbypass_in
Cbypass
microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). Cbypass TLint1
Rb1
Rg2
Q2 TLout1
TLout3

Cg1/2 Rodd2
Rb1 Cg2/2 Rodd2 TLout2
Rg1
Q1 Cint1 Rg2
Keywords—GaN on SiC, multi-way combining network, TLin1 Q2 TLout4

power per area ratio, watt-level power amplifier, X-band. RFin

CDC_block Cin1
Rodd1 Rodd2
Rg2
Rodd1 Rodd2
Cout1 CDC_block
RFout

TLin1 Rg1 Q2 TLout4

Q1 Cint1
Rb1 Cg2/2 Rodd2 TLout2
I. INTRODUCTION Cg1/2
Cbypass TLint1
Rb1 Rg2
Q2
Rodd2
TLout1
Cbypass TLout3
Cbypass_in
Recently, a fully integrated GaN watt-level power VG1
VDD1
Cbypass Cg2/2

amplifier has been presented in [1-9]. For example, a very VG2

VDD2
Rout Cbypass_out

compact MMIC die which adopted a two-way power

List of components
combining architecture is only occupied 3 × 3 mm2 in [1]. It Cin1 1.03 pF Cint1 492 fF Cout1 265 fF Cg1 1.28 pF

presents a 6 W of saturated output power, a 17 dB of linear Cg2 780 fF

TLout2 100/50 ȝm
TLin1
TLout3
1492/36 ȝm
450/50 ȝm
TLint1
TLout4
480/40 ȝm
1300/50 ȝm
TLout1
Rg1
250/50 ȝm
50.2 ȍ
gain and a 63% of PAE at 7 GHz. The PA achieves a power Rg2 80.8 ȍ Rb1 953.6 ȍ Rodd1 25.8 ȍ Rodd2 20.7 ȍ

per area ratio of 0.66 W/mm2. Power per area ratio is defined Q1 4Ø180/0.25ȝm Q2 4Ø200/0.25ȝm

to quantify the performance of a PA which is considered to
be the index of the-higher the ratio and the-lower the cost.
Although the aforementioned PA achieves a high PAE, its
low power per area ratio is insufficient for high power
system's applications.
Watt-level MMIC PAs have been implemented by
several approaches. Ref. [2] uses Doherty architecture to
improve the power back-off performance while maintaining
watt-level output power. Ref. [3] adopts class-F operation to
obtain a 45% PAE. However, these techniques need power
splitters and harmonic tuning networks that inevitably
occupy large chip area.
This paper is targeted to implement a high power-area
efciency X-band power amplifier for phased array
applications. When PA is used in phase array antenna, the
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram and its used components of the proposed
X-band MMIC PA
To consider the loss of output matching network, the total
gate width of the power transistor is selected as 3.2 mm
which can be divided into four transistors with gate width of
0.8 mm. Figures 2(a) and (b) show the simulated fmax and fT
of the transistors with total gate width of 800 m in two
combinations, i.e., 4 × 200 ȝm and 8 × 100 ȝm. As seen,
both of them have similar maximum oscillation frequencies.
However, the transistor cell with 4 × 200 ȝm is well verified
by the PDK. The power stage of the PA selects a
four-unit-cell of 4 × 200 ȝm gate width. Meanwhile, the
driver stage is selected as a two-unit-cell of 4 × 180 ȝm gate
width. Thus, the driving ratio of this PA is 1:2.2.
90

dimension of the PA must be smaller than λg/2 to avoid

W = 4×200 μm
80 100
W = 8×100 μm
70
grating lobe effect in phase array antenna. In this work, the 60
80
fT (GHz)
fmax (GHz)

50
authors propose an ultra-compact watt-level PA tailored for 40
60

the requirements of the specific phase array antenna. Major 30

20
40

design efforts are made to enhance the PAE and power per 10 20
W = 4×200 μm
W = 8×100 μm

area ratio while maintaining its high output power. 0

1E-3 0.01 0.1 1
1E-3 0.01
Current Density (mA/μm)
0.1 1
Current Density (mA/μm)

II. GAN POWER AMPLIFIER DESIGN
The goal of this amplifier is to design an X-band PA with
more than 14 W output power using WINTM 0.25-m
GaN-on-SiC HEMT technology. The GaN technology
provides unitary current gain frequency (fT) of 53.4 GHz and
maximal oscillation frequency (fmax) of 76.8 GHz for a 4 ×
200 ȝm transistor under bias conditions of VDD = 28 V and
(a) (b)
Fig. 2. Simulated maximum oscillation (fmax) and cut-off oscillation (fT)
frequencies.(a) Simulated fmax of 800 m transistor in different combinations.
(b) Simulated fT of 800 m transistor in different combinations.
Binary power combining output matching network is the
most adequate topology for compact layout design. Fig. 3(a)
shows the output matching network of the half-circuit of the
PA. Tee-structure of transmission lines of series-TLout2,

c
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 shunt-TLout3 and series-TLout4 with the output parasitic
capacitor Cout and Cout1 form a compact impedance-inverter
network to achieve wideband power match [4]. Fig. 3(b)
shows the impedance loci of the output matching network (in
black trace) and the optimal load (in red trace) on Smith V G1 V DD1 V G2 V DD2

chart. The matching network is used a binary power

combiner in the half-circuit whose impedance is intentionally RFin RFout

matched to 100 ȍ. Thus, two half-circuits can be directly

connected to obtain 50 Ÿ load impedance. To form a VG1 VDD1 VG2 VDD2

Fig. 4. Chip photo of the fabricated X-band PA mounted on tested PCB.

compact binary power cell, two transistors with gate length
of 4 × 200 ȝm are connected by short transmission lines 30
|S21| (Meas.)
0
23.5 dB -5
(TLout1 = 250 ȝm and TLout2 = 100 ȝm). Two shunt 25
19 dB
|S21| (Sim.)
-10

transmission lines (TLout3 = 450 ȝm) are not only used to

S-parameter (dB)
S-parameter (dB)
20 -15
-20
resonate out the parasitic capacitors at drain nodes but also 15
-25

used as biased chokes. The width of TLout3 is selected as 50 10 -30

-35
ȝm to sustain heavy current flow at high output power level. 5
-40
|S11| (Meas.)
|S11| (Sim.)
|S22| (Meas.)
|S22| (Sim.)

Then, a series transmission line TLout4 shunted two capacitors 0

8.0 8.5 9.0 9.5 10.0 10.5 11.0 11.5 12.0
-45
6 8 10 12 14

Cout1 = 0.265 pF are used to match the optimal load Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)

impedance of 10 + j17.06 Ÿ which is obtained by load-pull (a) (b)

simulation of two parallel 4 × 200 ȝm transistors. Fig. 5. Simulated and measured S-parameters.
(a) Simulated and measured of gain (|S21 |).
VDD (b) Simulated and measured input and output return losses (|S11 | and |S22 |).

TLout1 2TLout3 ½Cout1

4F200
TLout2 TLout4
100 ȍ
4F200
VDD
(a)
(b)
Fig. 3. Output matching network of the proposed X-band PA.
(a) Output matching network of the half-circuit of the PA.
(b) Impedance loci of the output matching network (in black trace) and the
optimal load (in red trace) on Smith chart.
Considering the current-handling capability, the metal
traces in the output matching network are stacked metal_1
and metal_2, with thickness of 4 and 1.1 ȝm, to withstand
high current and lower the line loss. Two parallel RC circuits
are placed at the input of the transistors to ensure
unconditional stability for all frequencies. Three stabilized
Fig. 6 shows the simulated and measured pulsed power
gain, output 1-dB compression (OP1dB) and saturation power
(Psat) at a drain voltage of 28 V and a total drain quiescent
current of 254 mA. From 9.5 to 10.5 GHz, the designed PA
obtained the linear power gain from 15.7 to 20.5 dB, the
OP1dB from 20.9 to 30.88 dBm and the saturated output
power from 40.7 to 41.7 dBm. Note that, the excellent power
per area ratio is achieved up to 4.3 W/mm2. Fig. 7 shows the
simulated and measured PAE at output 1-dB compression
point and maximum PAE, respectively. The maximum PAE
is from 25.2 to 37% and the peak PAE at OP1dB is 14.29%.
Since the frequency response is down-shifted by 0.5 GHz,
the simulated and measured results are not well agreed. In
addition, the performance of the measured PAE is better than
that of the simulation due to pulse bias measurement.
50
Psat,max= 41.73 dBm
Output Power (dBm) , Gain (dB)

resistors with the value of 20 ȍ are placed between the 45

40
transistor cells to prevent possible odd-mode oscillation 35 OP1dB,max= 30.88 dBm

caused by imbalances of the multi-way power combining 30

25
structure. 20
15 PGmax = 20.56 dB
10
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 5
PG (Meas.)
PG (Sim.)
OP1dB(Meas.)
OP1dB(Sim.)
Psat(Meas.)
Psat(Sim.)

0
Fig. 4 shows the photo of the fabricated X-band MMIC 8.5 9.0 9.5 10.0 10.5
Frequency (GHz)
PA which was mounted on a PCB with heat sink. The chip
area without cutting street of the PA is 2.1 × 1.65 mm2. The Fig. 6. Simulated and measured saturated output power, output power of
MMIC PA was biased via external bias chokes for pulse 1-dB gain compression point and power gain.
power measurements. The power performances of the GaN
MMIC PA were measured under a DC pulse of 11% duty 50
PAEmax (Meas.)
45 PAEmax= 36.98 %
cycle with 110 ȝs pulse width and an RF pulse of 10% duty 40
PAE1dB (Meas.)
PAEmax (Sim.)

cycle with 100 ȝs pulse width to avoid thermal effects. 35

PAE1dB (Sim.)

30
Figures 5(a) and (b) show the simulated and measured
PAE (%)

25
S-parameters. As observed from the results, the measured 20 PAE1dB,max= 14.29 %
15
frequency shifted down by 0.5 GHz and the power gain 10
significantly reduced by 4.5 dB compared to those of 5

simulated ones. These discrepancies could be attributed by 0

8.5 9.0 9.5 10.0 10.5
the highly sensitive of the pinch-off voltage due to GaN Frequency (GHz)

process variation that makes frequency shift at original gate

Fig. 7. Simulated and measured maximum PAE and PAE of 1-dB gain
bias. This can be adjusted by properly tuning the gate compression point.
voltages.

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 Fig. 8 benchmarks recently published the-state-of-the-arts Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI) of National
X-band GaN MMIC PAs in 0.25-m technology which Applied Research Laboratories and the National Chung-Shan
compares the achieved maximum PAEs and theirs Institute of Science & Technology (NCSIST) for chip
corresponding power per area. As seen, the proposed GaN fabrication and measurement
MMIC PA achieves the highest power per area ratio among
the academic research and commercial products. Table 1 REFERENCES
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PAEmax
45 38 33 44 40 37
(%)
Area 3.47‡
6.2 18 7.5 17.2 13.1
(mm2) 5.04
Power
Density 5.25 3.5 2.47 N/A N/A 4.66
(W/mm)
Power
per area 4.3‡
0.34 0.77 2.11 2.03 1.36
ratio 2.96
(W/mm2)
ƇCommercial Product ([8]ˣ[9] are parts of Cree and Qorvo, respectively).
ƈWithout cutting street.

IV. CONCLUSION
An X-band watt-level GaN MMIC PA has been
successfully designed, fabricated and measured to target the
goals for over 14 W output power, high PAE and excellent
power per area ratio. The output matching network utilized
an area-efficient four-way structure to achieve low-loss and
high-Q network. Under pulse bias condition with a drain
voltage of 28 V, the PA exhibits a saturated output power of
41.7 dBm, a maximum PAE of 37%, a linear power gain of
20.6 dB and a power per area ratio of 4.3 W/mm2. To the
author’s knowledge, this work yields the highest FoM on the
power per area ratio of X-band GaN MMIC PA designs.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and
Technology (MOST) of the Republic of China under
Contract no. MOST 109-2221-E-008-065-MY3. The authors
thank to the constant support from the Taiwan

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